BOXSCORE | AUGSBURG MEN'S SOCCER VIDEO PAGE
D3SPORTS.COM PHOTO GALLERY

MINNEAPOLIS -- Goalkeeper Pascaul Venter (SR, Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) scored his third straight shutout and 25th of his career, and Augsburg College head coach Greg Holker earned his 50th career victory, as the Auggie men's soccer team scored a 2-0 victory over visiting Central College in a nonconference contest Monday evening at Edor Nelson Field.

Peter Loyd (SO, Plymouth, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong HS) and Van Hong (JR, St. Louis Park, Minn.) scored goals for the Auggies, who remained unbeaten on the season at 2-0-1 overall. Central is now 2-1-0 on the season.

"This was a game that we will walk away from happy with the result, but not much more than that," Holker said. "Hats off to Gary Laidlaw and his team for making the game very difficult for us. They owned the aerial battle today and threatened on several occasions."

Loyd put the Auggies on the scoreboard in the 30th minute, heading home a free kick from 25 yards out by Ryan Sorensen (SR, Plymouth, Minn./Osseo HS). Hong capped the scoring for the Auggies in the 53rd minute, getting behind the Central defense on a nifty feed by Matt Bowman (SO, Maple Grove, Minn.) and scoring from 15 yards in front of the net.

"Sorensen made a huge difference when he moved out wide and did everything to create our chances in both halves. His service to Loyd for the first goal was exactly what we were in need of. He can change a game quickly when he gets rolling," Holker said. "Jake Wolf (SO, Elk River, Minn.) did very well in his collegiate debut at right back. He made good choices with the ball and was patient in his one-vs.-one battles, timing his tackles well."

Central outshot Augsburg by a 16-15 margin, but had just four shots on net to Augsburg's eight. Central goalkeeper Jonathan Glassman (SO, Lakeville, Minn./North HS) had six saves in the game.

Venter, already Augsburg's career leader in goalkeeper shutouts (Augsburg goalkeeping records since 1978), has not been scored on through the Auggies' first three games. He had four saves in Monday's contest and extended his -- and the team's -- streak of shutout minutes to 299:03 to start the year.

In his sixth year as the Auggies' head coach, Holker is now 50-34-15 on his career. His teams have recorded double-digit victories each of the last three seasons.

  Nick Anderson (SR, White Bear Lake, Minn.) had four shots for the Auggies, while Bowman had two shots. For Central, Erik Lundgren (SR, Long Grove, Ill./Adlai Stevenson HS) and Cody Jandik (JR, Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Cedar Valley Christian HS) had three shots each.

Augsburg continues its six-game homestand with a nonconference contest against Wisconsin-Superior on Wednesday (9/9) at 5 p.m. at Edor Nelson Field. The game is part of a men's and women's soccer doubleheader at Augsburg, with the women hosting Wisconsin-Eau Claire at 7:30 p.m.

"We look forward to training tomorrow and playing an improved UW-Superior team on Wednesday," Holker said.